Went to a Kingdom Hall this weekend ....

by troubled mind 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  troubled mind

  For a memorial service of a long time friends Mother . My husband and I were disappointed to realize they were forgoing a funeral home visitation . Neither of us were thrilled about having to go into a Kingdom Hall again , but after a few rattled nerves we made it . It was a huge service the KH was full capacity . We got to talk to the family members we cared about ,and even a few old time friends who usually ignore us any other time . ( maybe they will now realize we don't exude demons from our pores )

  The dreaded witness talk wasn't half bad . I think the younger generation is making some head way at being some what normal .He actually talked about her and her interests some what . Throughout his talk he referenced nice antidotes about the deceased .

  I filtered out much of the rest . I did glean something I never knew about the mom though ...the reason she studied with witnesses in the 70's was because she was scared to death of 'hell' and they offered a paradise alternative.So now she replaced that fear with one of being destroyed at Armageddon.

  Side note : I remember after my friends dog died her mother would not let her have another pet because, "Armageddon was to close (1975) and things would be to bad to have to worry about a pet ,She even told her once "What if we are starving and we would have to eat our pet , I don't want to put you through that ! "..... yikes I am so serious .

  Funny thing about being dressed up :

  After the service my husband stopped at Best Buy to buy a CD . Here he is in his shirt and tie looking at " Disturbed " CD's ( FYI very heavy metal type music) my husband is almost 50 . A young guy is looking at the same music they discuss which one is the best one .

  The kid looks at my husband and says "UMMM you do realize what that music is like right ?"

  My husband says "OH YES " I've listened to my sons and really like it ."

  The kid then says ..." OH Okay the TIE threw me off " hahaha
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  dinah

  That's funny! The kid probably thought your husband was off his rocker.
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  BluesBrother

  I have been to 2 or 3 dub "Memorial Services" for the deceased in recent years .

  In my day we would have an open invite to all the congo to attend the Crematorium (that was always the chosen method) . It was non denominational and we gave the funeral talk there and dispatched the coffin beyond the curtain...

  Nowadays they seem to favour a small family cremation service, and the congo has a separate "do" at the K/hall...It seems to duplicate the stress, to my mind, but ..............

  The talks do seem more personalised, I agree . Sometimes they include funny stories about the deceased, which might or might not be appreciated by the bereaved?

  The talks are still turned into a "service talk" though with a Witness about the Resurrection and a discussion of how "We need to live our life now, if we want to see him again....."
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  troubled mind

  Blues Brother yeah that's the part I filtered out ....talking about do your part now so you can see her again and we can all plant flowers and pet lions together ...sigh

  He stressed several times how she and her husband of 56 yrs. pioneered ONE month together and got all their time in the first two weeks !!! Wow great big deal ! (He forgot to add it was beacuse they went on vacation the last two weeks and wanted it out of the way )
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  straightshooter

  I also noticed that recent funerals I attended at the KH that they present more information about the person who died.

  I don't know if the outline calls for that or not, but it does make sitting there more tolerable.
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  wobble

  I am dreading having to go when one of my close family,or dear old friends passes on.

  I cannot go near a K.H without feelings of revulsion coming up.

  The old outline used to encourage a little about the deceased,but it was a very small percentage of the talk,I guess they could have slightly more humane instructions for a memorial service,jeez the name says it all.

  I had to do a service for my friends mum at the crematorium earlier this year,he was DF'd about 40 years ago,in his absence,without knowledge that the JC was proceeding.In the light of his treatment he wanted a simple "service" that celebrated who his Mum was,not her religion.

  So he asked me,an inactive JW no longer attending,to do it. The Dubs in her Congo were told that it would be disloyal to Jehovah to attend the crematorium. I had her long time friend,a dear old Sister crying on the phone to me because she had been told not to come.

  So we went ahead with our ,non-religious remembrance of his Mum,some of his worldly relatives from a neighbouring country flew in for this,and my friend, her only child ,his wife,and the relatives were the only ones there,apart from my non-witness S.I.L who is an old friend of the Son.

  The Dubs held their memorial service at the K.H about an hour after ours,neither her son or his wife or the relatives or me attended,we went to the Pub and remembered her over some real ale,as she would have wanted !

  Really weird ! WHERE IS THE LOVE ?

  My friend will now not even allow the Dubs to call at his door.

  Love

  Wobble
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  AK - Jeff

  My elderly MIL will be the one that will cause me to cross that ugly threshhold at the KH again, likely. She is mid 80's now, and not in good health. I will only go for my wife's sake - certainly none of the Jw bastards there will even speak to me. I am not looking forward to it. I sometimes hold out hope that somehow my wife can convince the family to have other arrangements - but since her oldest sister is 'Bitch in charge' in these things, I have little doubt how it will go.

  My only hope is that my wife will present her formal DA letter soon after, and we can be 100% done with this ignominious lot.

  As far as going for friends or others - probably not - although there are maybe two or three that I would consider going to a memorial service for if the circumstances were right. But not damned many.

  Jeff